Running and Settings, low Max HR

• by DonSoule
• 2009-01-24 12:01:44
• Exercise & Sports
• 1779 views
• 9 comments

I received my first PM (Boston Scientific Altua 60) Jan 16th 2009.

My story: I've continued running but been overly tired in general for the past few years. My Dr ran a lot of blood tests but couldn't find anything wrong except for High Blood Pressure and a Low Pulse usually in low 40's at Dr visits. He kept me off any medications that might lower my pulse since it was already low.

I went for a blood pressure/ cholesterol check up with my GP on Dec 19th and ended up being sent on to see a cardiologist.. My GP wanted the cardiologist opinion on my slow heart rate and some feelings of almost passing out I've been having lately. When the nurse took my pulse it was 35 and then my Dr got 37 and he did a EKG which showed a 32. The cardiologist said they can easily increase my heart rate by putting in a pacemaker but wasn't sure that was the cause of my almost blacking out. He gave me an "event monitor" to wear for a month so they could get readings from my heart when I have a near blackout incident.

When I called in and did the playback over the phone of my last 5 readings, the tech said it was "very interesting" and he was surprised I hadn't passed out - he said he wasn't a Dr but asked if someone was with me and he expected I would be going into the hospital. A nurse from the Minnesota Heart Clinic called me and moved an appointment up to the next morning.

I went to see another cardiologist at the Minnesota Heart Clinic on Jan 16th at 7:45 AM and he was sure I needed the pacemaker due to my slowing heart rate (about 20 on some readings) and especially the 5+ second pauses I was having quite often. So sent me immediately to the Hospital for check-in. They did the procedure at about 1:30 PM that day. So now my heart beats at a regular rate of 60. The PM is set at 60/130.

I found this site when I got out of the hospital and have been reading a lot of good information but have a few questions. I have been running for the past 3 years 5K's - Marathons. Slow, but completed 5 marathons in the past 2 years. I will go in for my first follow-up next week with a PM tech and a nurse practitioner, my first cardiologist visit will be in 3 months. Based on what I've seen especially from running related posts, I will need to talk to them about modifying the settings - possibly turning off the rate response setting and lowering the 60 and raising the 130.

Can someone explain the rate response feature? Will that make my heat rate go higher than it did before and could that be a good thing or is it only for someone whose heart rate didn't go up at all?

Does anyone have any opinions on what I should try and get changed so that when I start running again I won't have too many problems? In my case, pre-PM according to my Polar HR monitor I had a fairly low Max HR - Has anyone dealt with that and what that might mean to the settings I need? I usually showed a low around 40 before I started running and then in my 5K's and Marathon's even with a sprint at the end, it only got up to the 120's - looking back at the readings I could find for races I had one with a high in the 130's but the rest were lower. I did a echo-treadmill stress test about 2 yrs ago and I had to run a long time and about as hard as I've ever run to get it up to the 135 they said I needed to hit.

I was wondering if the rate response setting will get me up to the 130 max setting faster and cause problems? If I have them raise the max to 160 or 170 with the rate response left on is there a chance I will be able to run at a faster pace with a higher heart rate?

As far as lowering the low from 60, what would be the advantage of that? Longer battery life?

I appreciate any comments you can give me?

Thanks,
Don